Lessons from POYi - Freelance/Agency Issue Reporting Picture Story

This week, I've gotten to attend several sessions of POYi, notably the Freelance/Agency Feature Event Picture Story and the Freelance/Agency Issue Reporting Picture Story.

For the Issue Reporting picture story, it was defined as: A story or essay that explores an important social, economic, or political issue.

"Love Me"

Story Description: Love Me reflects on the cultural and commercial forces that drive a global obsession with youth and beauty. The project explores how a new form of globalization is taking place, where an increasingly narrow Western beauty ideal is being exported around the world like a crude universal brand. The project spans five years, and involves photography in 17 countries across five continents.
Image Caption: Katie, age 9. Winner. Universal Royalty Texas State Pageant. Texas, USA.

The first picture of the First Place essay kind of creeped me out because it reminded me of JonBenet Ramsey and the very evil things that happened to her. It was cool to see an essay, rather than a photo story win something. The judges really responded to the message of the essay - how the Western 'ideal' is seeping all over the world, despite how negative it is.

Caption: For more than 20 years strict social rules have required modest dress and covered hair. Laws forbid women to publicly sing, dance, or wear make-up. There are reportedly more nose jobs being performed in Iran than in any other country in the world. Elham, 19, and her mother, 55. Rhinoplasty "nose job" operation. Tehran, Iran.

Lessons from POYi - Freelance/Agency Feature Event Picture Story

This week, I've gotten to attend several sessions of POYi, notably the Freelance/Agency Feature Event Picture Story and the Freelance/Agency Issue Reporting Picture Story.

For the Feature Event picture story, the feature event was defined as: A candid, unposed story or essay of a significant planned or unplanned event that does not qualify as “hard news” or focus on “social issues.” Examples are: Michael Jackson’s death and memorial, President Barack Obama’s inauguration, spiritual celebrations or pilgrimages, cultural festivals, or any number of other event-based experiences.

Caption (from the First Place picture story): WASHINGTON - JANUARY 20: Barack H. Obama holds in a crowded hallway backstage at the Capital moments before walking out to be sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 44th president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States.

I mentioned the definition because there were several good stories that were eliminated because they didn't fit the definition of what category it was entered in. One such story was Tomas Van Houtryve's essay, The Great Leap Backwards.

Caption: A portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong is seen reflected in wet pavement in "The East is Red" square (Dongfanghong square) of Nanjie village in Henan province, China on 31 October 2009.

As only 12 images were allowed for an essay, the ones entered are #1-6, 8, 16-20. Because it didn't seem to be of a specific event (as per the caption and story summary), say the anniversary of Mao's death, it was disqualified, even though the judges liked the story and the images. One comment that sticks out to me from their judging: "It's interesting to think of the Communist government as a brand name."

You're About as Useful as a Poopie Flavored Lollipop

They had Dodgeball: An Underdog Story on FX last night and I was reminded how many goofy things Patches O'Houlihan said.

The 5 D's of Dodgeball:

• Dodge
• Duck
• Dip
• Dive, and
• Dodge.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No. But I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste.

I get better runs in my shorts!

If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball!

You couldn't hit water if you fell out of a boat!

Hey, Hey, Hey!

As I was walking to class today, migraine pulsing and the light piercing my brain, I pulled my wool hat (the one my dad hates) over my eyes to see if I could see (hee hee). I could. And it made me think of Fat Albert's Dumb Donald and Mushmouth and that funny language that he used to speak.

It got me thinking... what was that weird language that Mushmouth used to speak? "Whatbuh webuh gonbuh dobuh?" So I did a little investigation and found out that Fat Albert was on TV for 12/13 years (1972-1985)! The weird language Mushmouth spoke was a variant of a language invented for kids on the old TV program, Zoom, called Ubbi Dubbi. To speak it, all you have to do is put ub in front of any vowel. Mushmouth, instead, put a buh on the end of all of his words.

Here's a few episodes featured on YouTube.

This one, "Busted," has Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids catching a ride in a stolen car and ending up having to go visit a prison to see what a life of crime will bring them. It was hilarious to watch the creepy prisoners but I would have really been scared of them if I was a kid. They were freaky!

I also found the Fat Albert Christmas Special, where Fat Albert and company help out a homeless family. I don't remember many Christmas specials from when I was a kid, but I remember this one. I think it was because Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang really worked to help a homeless family who just had a baby.

Google Doodles

I don't know how I came across this, but I stumbled on Google's contest over doodles of its logo. Called Doodle 4 Google, it is a competition for K-12 students to "work their artistic will upon our homepage logo." It's been around since at least 2008. This year's theme is "If I could do anything I would..." and the winner will be featured on the Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010.

Here's the link to Google's collection of doodles with its logo.

Here's some of my favorites:

For those of you who aren't familiar with Asterix and Obelix, they are characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, and are well beloved by me and by a large percentage of the population of France. Asterix the Gaul is the lead warrior in his small Gaulish village during the time in history when Rome had conquered Gaul. He and his best friend, Obelix, like to pound Romans, both aided by a potion developed by Getafix which gives super-human strength. This doodle was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the characters.

To commemorate Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. His creation, Sherlock Holmes, is one of my favorite characters. Holmes is the most portrayed movie character with over 70 actors playing the part in more than 200 films. The best of those actors was Basil Rathbone. Peter Cushing (aka Grand Moff Tarkin) also portrayed him in several films. The term "red herring" (which means a false lead put to distract the reader from solving the mystery) comes from one of Doyle's Holmes stories.

Just because I love Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. "C is for Cookie" is an awesome song! Another awesome song is "Near... Far..." sung by my favorite Muppet, Grover. He is also the star of one of my favorite kids books: The Monster at the End of This Book.

To celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote more than 60 books under the name of Dr. Seuss. Some of my favorites are The Foot Book;  Hop on Pop; One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish; and Green Eggs and Ham. I also love the cautionary tale of The Lorax.

He was born in Springfield, Mass., and graduated from Dartmouth College. The college builds a giant sculpture each year and several times, that sculpture has been a Seuss-inspired character.

In honor of one of favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh. I was lucky enough to see some of his pieces when I was at the Musee D'Orsay, including some of my favorites: La chambre de Van Gogh à Arles, Portrait de l'artiste (1889) and L'église d'Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du chevet.

And one of my absolute favorites.

I absolutely love Wallace and Grommit. The brain child of the animators at Aardman Animation. Aardman was also responsible for Creature Comforts (the British version was much better than the American version), which featured real people talking about inane things, but animated as animals. Here's another link to another short.

You Asked for Sheep

In class, Rita mentioned that she would have liked to see more of the sheep in my story, so I thought I would provide some.

Dee surveying some of their ewes.

Some More from the Pereras' Farm

Thought I would provide a few more outtakes from my time on the Perera's farm. I'm thinking about continuing exploring life as a sheep farmer for my 30-Day project. In the spring, there'll be sheering and sheep bearing.

One of the favorites of the set. It's one I debated using as one of my alternates for my 5-picture story.

I like how the sheep are silhouetted but still visible.


The ewes out in the yard.

Glad I'm Not a Photographer in Uzbekistan

The BBC had a report on Umida Akmedova, an Uzbeki photographer who was tried and convicted of slander for the photographs that she took of life in rural Uzbekistan. Here's a more extensive link of pictures that she took. The site's in Russian: Фото Центральной Азии (Photos of Central Asia).

For those of you who are interested in what the Russian on the page says, here's the basic translation (courtesy of me with a little help from Google's translator):

Фото Умиды Ахмедовой

Photos of Umida Akhmedova

В декабре 2009 года в Узбекистане против известного ташкентского фотографа-документалиста и кинооператора Умиды Ахмедовой возбуждено уголовное дело по статьям 139 («Клевета») и 140 («Оскорбление»), максимальное наказание по которым предусматривает исправительные работы от двух до трех лет или арест до шести месяцев.

In December 2009 in Uzbekistan the well-known Tashkent photographer, documentary film-maker and cinematographer Umida Akhmedova was prosecuted under criminal articles 139 (“slander”) and 140 (“insult”), the maximum penalty for which includes remedial work two to three years or detention for up to six months.

По словам Умиды Ахмедовой, следователь Мирабадского РОВД города Ташкента капитан Нодир Ахмаджанов сообщил ей, что по инициативе Узбекского агентства по печати и информации против авторов, сотрудничавших с «Гендерной Программой Швейцарского посольства» в создании ряда книг и фильмов, в том числе и против самой Умиды Ахмедовой, возбуждено уголовное дело по факту клеветы и оскорбления узбекского народа. Непосредственно Ахмедовой вменяют в вину выпуск фотоальбома «Женщины и мужчины: от рассвета до заката», изданного в 2007 году при поддержке «Гендерной Программы Посольства Швейцарии». Альбом состоит из 110 фотографий, отражающих различные бытовые аспекты жизни людей в Узбекистане.
According to Umida Akhmedova, Investigator Mirabad Tashkent and city police department captain Nodir Akhmadzhan told her that on the initiative of the Uzbek Agency for Press and Information, criminal charges of slander and insult to the Uzbek people had been filed against her, and also the authors who had collaborated with the Gender Program of the Swiss Embassy in the creation of a number of books and films. Immediately, Akhmedova blamed the released album, "Women and Men: From Dawn to Dusk”, which was published in 2007 with the support of the Gender Program of the Embassy of Switzerland. The Album consists of 110 photographs depicting different aspects of everyday life in Uzbekistan. 

Ниже – некоторые из этих снимков. Кадры предоставлены «Фергане.Ру» автором. Они не могут быть использованы для перепечатки или воспроизведены в любом виде без письменного разрешения «Ферганы.Ру».
Below - some of these images. The rest is a copyright notice.
And here's a more extensive article. I won't translate this one, but Google Translator can for you...

Henry Moore, Sculptor

Came across the sculptor, Henry Moore, when browsing The Guardian's website. I like his stuff, very organic.

For information on Moore, go here or here.

Some nice quotes by Henry Moore:

• "To be an artist is to believe in life."
• "The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration."
• "In my opinion, everything, every shape, every bit of natural form, animals, people, pebbles, shells, anything you like are all things that can help you to make a sculpture."

More Helpful Hints from Writers

Somehow, I came across this when surfing the web, from The Guardian website.

Ten Rules for Writing Fiction (Part One)
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction (Part Two)

It's tips on fiction writing, but as I was reading it, I kept thinking about how it applied to photography. Things like:

1. If you're serious, get an accountant.
2. If it's a good idea, don't limit your thinking if it's not working: be flexible.
3. Make something that you would like (write a book you'd like to read). 
4. Record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.
5. Bounce ideas off of someone else.
6. Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organise your life accordingly. 
7. Think with your senses as well as your brain. 
8. Honor the miraculousness of the ordinary.
9. Remember there is no such thing as nonsense.
10. Learn what criticism to accept.
11. Be persistent. // Don't give up.
12. Have a story worth telling.
13. Don't look back until you've written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceeding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.
14. You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.
15. Live life and write about life. Of the making of many books there is ­indeed no end, but there are more than enough books about books. 
16. Oh, and not forgetting the occasional beating administered by the sadistic guards of the imagination.
17. Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
18. Don't confuse honors with achievement.
19. Do not place a photograph of your ­favorite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.
20. Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it.

For Their Own Good

I saw this on Joel Kowsky's blog and wanted to include it on mine - a story from April 19, 2009, from the St. Petersburg Times called For Their Own Good. Investigated by Ben Montgomery and Waveney Ann Moore and photographed by Edmund D. Fountain, the story told about abuse at the Florida School for Boys. The multimedia presentation did a great job of mixing video and still images into creating something moving.

Breaking the Ice as a Professional Project

For any of you that were a student at the University of Missouri in photojournalism, you'll remember our very first assignment in the first photo class in the sequence - Breaking the Ice - where we had to stop random people and take a headshot of them. I came across this project on The Guardian's website: Ukrainian Miners: Portraits - where photographer Gleb Kosorukov did a similar project featuring Ukrainian miners at one of Europe's largest pits as they finished a six-hour shift. Part of a series of 100 images.

A Day on a Sheep Farm

The Petite Saline Sheep and Llama Farm is located in Booneville, MO, is owned by Rey and Deanna "Dee" Perera. When I called them, they were incredibly welcoming and that carried through in my visits with them. As I got to know them, I discovered their real love for their animals - whether it was their sheep, llamas, ducks, Guinea hens, parrots, cats or dogs - and when I was editing I decided I wanted to illustrate that as I illustrated their work on the farm.

Here's the pictures from my story:

Rey Perera distributes feed to his Karakul ewes on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. Perera works his farm daily and typically begins feeding the sheep, alpacas, and llamas around 8 am.

After feeding his llamas, Rey Perera pauses briefly to survey his sheep yard on Tuesday morning, Februarry 16, 2010. The Pereras use their llamas to guard their sheep; prior to adopting their first llama in 1989, coyotes would steal several of their lambs each year.

It's That Time of Year

It's that time of year. Picture of the Year International. I've been lucky enough to be scheduled as a volunteer on Monday and Wednesday for the next 3 weeks.

Today, I sat through a review of the outs for the Feature category. I say 'sat through' because it was almost an hour of going back through 2,150 images and it was dead quiet in there, save for the typing laptops. I was tempted to nap more than a few times... (My lack of sleep didn't help when it's dark except for the images on the screen.)

Here's the Second Place winner:

"Displaced"

Caption: A Pakistani displaced boy from Swat valley sleeps under a mosquito net outside his tent at the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

I liked it better than the gold winner which dealt with Mexican migration to cities within Mexico. Both pictures involved sleeping children, the second one spoke to me more.

POYi is one of two photo contests hosted by MU each year and I love sitting in on the judging. I get to see some amazing photography and hear the logic of the judges as to why they chose the winners they did. It always gives me plenty to think about.

Spot News winner (I really liked this picture, even if it was morbid subject matter):

"Brazil-Violence"

Caption: Residents look at a body found inside a supermarket cart in the Morro dos Macacos slum in Rio de Janeiro October 20, 2009. The man is suspected to have been killed by rival drug gangs, residents say. Brazil's president offered on Monday nearly $60 million in federal money to help Rio de Janeiro police combat drug gangs after 17 people were killed in weekend violence that raised questions over the city's ability to safely host the 2016 Olympics.

So far, I've gleaned these nuggets:

• Technical aesthetics are essential. if it's not technically well-done, it won't (typically) be considered. And those breath-taking pictures get rewarded.
• For things like Spot News, relevance can influence the judging. The judges often commented, "That was a big story last year..."
• Good captions are important. Sometimes that meant the difference between being in or out. In the Spot News category, the silver medal winner became the silver medal winner because it was taken in the moment of an IED going off (as to the typical picture of an IED being exploded) and not the similar photo that has been taken but isn't in the moment. Another couple of pictures lost out because there wasn't enough information to explain why this picture is significant.
• It truly is a subjective process. It seems like there's always at least 1 picture that I disagree with the judges on, wondering what they see in it. Tonight there was at least 2 pictures that I still don't get the accolades.
• I need to be aware of what's going on (in the world). Many times I would hear a judge mention 'that was a significant thing that happened.' And at least one of them was a freelance photographer who didn't 'need' to keep on top of what's going on in the world, but was anyway.

I have to confess. I felt some jealousy over the First Place winner of the Sports Picture Story category. His essay followed Lance Armstrong's return to professional cycling.

"Untitled"

Caption: Seven time Tour de France Champion, Lance Armstrong reflects on his crash and broken collarbone as he recuperates at his home in Austin, Texas March 28, 2009.

I have watched and loved the Tour de France ever since Greg Lemond was racing. And I cheered for Armstrong since his first win. So the jealousy comes in from the fact that the photographer got this type of access to this guy. And the pictures are *really* good.

As soon as I find out the photographer information, I will include it in this post.

EPJ Final Project Idea

I have two potential ideas for my final project for EPJ.

First, a project featuring a graduate student at MU, Romanda Walker. Romanda has muscular dystrophy and is confined to a wheel chair. My roommate last year worked with her on the weekends, serving as her personal attendant.  At 30, Romanda has quite a few accomplishments under her belt, including Ms. Wheelchair USA 2008 1st runner up and being honored in the annual Jerry Lewis telethon. She also participates in a soccer league. I see Romanda as a good story because of how she has used what she's been given to the best of her abilities.

• https://www.shalomccop.org/index.cfm/PageID/1671/index.html 
• http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/pa/mvs-news/RomandaWalker-2008.html 
• http://www.peopleonwheels.org/stlouis/?p=20 

Second, I'm thinking of doing a story on a pipefitter. My grandfather, uncle, and father all worked as fitters over the years (my father mainly prior to getting a job in finance, his true passion). Most people have never heard of a pipefitter is, let alone can describe what they do. And any fitter will tell you that they are not a plumber!  I see this as a good story because of the myriad of locations that construction can provide. The challenges to this story are: (1) manuevering on a construction site can be dangerous so permissions would need to be arranged, etc., (2) Columbia does not have a local union for fitters, so it may require traveling to St. Louis or Kansas City.

EPJ Media Organization Web Site Critique

The website that I chose to critique is http://english.aljazeera.net/. I first began reading stories on this website a year ago, when I was taking an International Journalism class. I appreciated its content, often finding the reporting to be balanced and in-depth.

But in taking a critical eye to its use of media, I found there are several things that I think should be improved:

1. While the website uses images and video, I found that I wanted more by way of these media. Typically, each story features a single picture or video associated with it. The lack of pictures made the articles seem a little bland to me. Websites like the New York Times and the Washington Post typically have more than one image or graphic.
2. Likewise, I found myself missing the imbedded links that the Post or the Times provide, which link to additional information. For the most part, each article was a dead end as far as ease in finding additional information. A few web pages did this, mostly for really big stories, but most stories do not include links.
3. The front page of Al Jazeera’s website was extremely jam-packed with links to news stories. But this plethora of data served to merely feel overwhelming rather than helpful. And I really hated having to scroll down, down, down… The sub-front pages for each category weren’t much better.
4. Unlike the Times or the Post, the quality of images was inconsistent, as though it was an afterthought, if that. As a photojournalist, the image quality really bugged me. It was if none of it was taken by professional photojournalists, but they just got an image to have one and possibly catch someone’s eye.
5. Navigation was one of my main complaints with the site. While its task bar remained consistent, sitting on the left side of the page, and a color change indicated which section of the site you were in, getting around after you select an article either means using the back button in your browser to starting at the main subsection page. There was no other way to leave a page. I greatly wished that it would have a ‘back to previous’ button or the like. The Times has links at the bottom of its article pages which include things like ‘Next post’ or ‘More Articles in XXXX.’ This set up seems to invite more surfing.
6. Both websites feature a ‘top news’ or ‘related news’ article list, which is nice for surfing. And both provide related articles. I preferred the Times way of putting them at the end of the article I’m reading rather than at the top of the page.
7. Both sites provide a list of ‘most e-mailed’ but the Times’s style seems cleaner, I think because of the color (or lack of color) used.
8. I’m not really a fan of the mustard color used on the site for headers, etc., but I think I understand the logic of it, since it is similar to sand and Al Jazeera is published in a desert region.
9. One other thing of note: the font on Al Jazeera website was sans serif, while both the Times and the Post used serif’d fonts. While sans serif is supposed to be easier to read, I find myself liking the serif’d font choice better. It may be from a reading background bias, but the breaking up of the font style seemed to make those sites more visually interesting.

Characters, Plots, and Dialogue

As I was reading the chapter on subjects (character), I was trying to figure out exactly how this fits with telling a story visually (it really fits when thinking about written characters, and since I've done that before...). But then she said this: "As soon as you start protecting your characters from the ramifications of their less-than-lofty behavior, your story will start to feel flat and pointless, just like in real life." How often do we talk about the subject being aware of the camera or the amount of 'access' to the subject? How often have I come across someone who doesn't want something about their life told, because it was 'private'? And how do I tell that part of the story without being a jerk? I mean, typically, I'm very accommodating, but how do I get to that part of the story with people that I'm going to see more than once, who are getting to know *me*, just as I a, getting to know them?

 

From 'Ono Kine Grindz's blog.

In the back of my mind, I'm hearing 'build their trust,' but sometimes when I think about that kind of thing, it feels really freaky to be that vulnerable. What I mean is - you have to let people in before they will let you in. The only way that they will be soft is for you to be soft first. And there's the issue of time. I guess what I'm thinking now is: for the really important stories, it isn't going to be drive-thru journalism, In and Out, where you don't stay and savor the meal. This is 5-star gourmet stuff that requires sometimes just sitting there with your hand on your belly in sheer ecstasy over the delicacies you're savoring. And isn't that what we all want to do, when we get past the laziness and the fear, is tell stories that eat like succulent surf 'n' turf.

 

From Omaha Steaks.

 

From Time Out Sydney.

My mouth is watering even now.

Hope for the Istamatic

For those of you who have mourned the passing of the Polaroid Istamatic and all the happy goodness it inspired, I've discovered that Instamatic-compatible film is on the horizon.

Tech Digest reports "Hold onto your old Polaroid camera: film's coming back" (January 2009)
The Telegraph reports "Polaroid cameras to be produced once again" (October 2009)

Technology Live reports "CES: Polaroid film cameras come back" (January 2010)

But, the roll out has been delayed a bit:

Boston Herald reports "Instant film for Polaroids delayed" (February 2010)

And for those of you who can't wait for them to get that film made, here's a link which gives instructions for transforming your digital images into Polaroids using Photoshop, so that you can create images like this:

Another link for transforming an image into a polaroid.

An Idea, An Idea, My Kingdom for an Idea!

 

 Edvard Munch, The Scream

This is how I felt today about completing the one-day story for Picture Story before speaking to Deanna & Rey Perera. 

My first idea, featuring Steve Heying the Falconer, didn't pan out: when I called to set something up, like we'd previously discussed (and he seemed enthusiastic about doing), he balked.

So, onto idea number two: covering someone who owned a sheep farm. Rita had recommend Susie Everhart of Susie's Grass Fed Meats, who sells lamb at Columbia's Farmer's Market. She was very wary about me coming out and taking pictures, and let me know that this time of year, she doesn't do much with the sheep except feed them. So, another dead end.  (She did agree to possibly letting me come out in the spring, when there's more activity.)

At this point, I was getting that familiar pit in my stomach, the one I get when I start to envision having nothing, failing miserably.

So, I searched the internet for sheep farmers in Columbia, MO, and I found Deanna and Rey Perera of Petite Saline Sheep & Llama Farm in Boonville. It's about 30 minutes away, but they were very welcoming about me coming out. I mostly spoke with Dee (although they both had me on speaker phone) and she was very happy to hear that I was a student at the J-School. They work with MU's Vet School, and someone is in the works to come out and round up some of the sheep for educational purposes.

And now, I am off to start my project tomorrow at 8:30 am. I think this could lead to a bigger project. Yay!

The Power of Photography

We just started The Power of Photography by Vicki Goldberg in my class, Photography and Society. It's causing me to think some deep thoughts.

One of the things that's been bugging me lately is how photographs are subjective, and how I want the truth as I see it, especially when it's in a picture that's meant to have a message, that it's impossible to create because of this subjectivity. But after today's readings (Chpts 1-5), I don't care as much. I realized that people don't want truly objective photos.

Who wants this

New York Street Cam

over this?

Image by Nitsa

Or this

Security Video Capture

over this?

For 'official' purposes, maybe, but as nice, aesthetically pleasing pictures? No.

Polaroid Gallery v.1.01

I came across this and thought it was cool:
Polaroid Gallery v.1.01. Developed by Christopher Einarsrud.

Each virtual polaroid can be moved and, if you double click on it, gets larger for a better look.

It seems like a fun and interesting way to display pictures in your portfolio.

Frank Incites Murder in the Philippines

Okay, it's a little racy of a title, but I was hunting around for one-day story ideas since my falconer is now vacillating and backpedaling. He isn't sure because his habit isn't up to snuff... I groan.

So, any way, while hunting, I came across this article:
Sinatra song often strikes a deadly chord

Apparently, in the Philippines, karaoke singers get so riled up during the singing of "My Way" that they've gotten in fights and stabbed each other. "The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”"

Rodolfo Gregorio, right, at a General Santos karaoke bar. Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers. | JES AZNAR for The New York Times

My Future Professional Website

As EPJ is progressing, I will be working on my professional website. This week, we were charged with creating its front page. I don't know if I'm going to stick with what I've got, but I like it for now.

It was very frustrating, though. I accidentally named my cascading style sheet with a capital letter (Stylesheet.css), but in coding my webpages, I called it by a lower case letter (stylesheet.css). So, my
specifications for the font color and my background color weren't taking. I did finally realize my mistake after over an hour of coding and recoding, etc. And being very befuddled...